Box Office: ‘Red One’ Makes $3.7 Million in Previews

Halloween is over, which means it’s officially Christmas season (sorry, Thanksgiving)—and Dwayne Johnson is here to usher in the holiday season early with “Red One”.

The action-packed Christmas movie, starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, has earned $3.7 million at the box office so far from Thursday’s previews. The Amazon MGM film is projected to gross between $30 million and $35 million, with some estimates as low as $25 million and others as high as $40 million. With a hefty production budget of $250 million, plus marketing costs, it will take a Christmas miracle for “Red One” to become a profitable hit at the box office. However, Amazon MGM is more focused on driving subscriptions to its Amazon Prime Video streaming service (where “Red One” will eventually land), so box office revenue is not their primary target.

Johnson, who also produces “Red One” through his production company Seven Bucks, is teaming up again with director Jake Kasdan (known for “Jumanji”) for this festive adventure film. Johnson stars as Callum Drift, the head of Santa Claus’s security team, who teams up with the crafty bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Evans) to track down Santa after he’s kidnapped. Their cold journey leads them to muscular snowmen, Santa’s evil brother Krampus, the winter witch Gryla, and many more chilling enemies. The cast also includes JK Simmons as Santa Claus, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka as Gryla, Kristofer Hivju as Krampus, Bonnie Hunt as Mrs. Claus, and many more.

As the only new film opening this weekend, “Red One” will have no trouble claiming the box office crown from “Venom: The Last Dance” (which has won the title three times) and other films like “Conclave”, “Heretic”, and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”